Over the last three years The Rotary Club of Oceanside has embarked on a multi-year project to help bring about meaningful, positive change to an area of our city that has been notorious over the years for gang violence - Crown Heights and surrounding neighborhoods. We entered into partnerships with two non-profit organizations which provide services to the target area as well as with the Oceanside Unified School District, whose Oceanside High School sits at the edge of Crown Heights. This collaboration enables Oceanside Rotary to help these entities by linking their efforts to reduce the attraction of gangs to the young people in the area and to provide them with a new vision of the opportunities for their future. Our primary focus for this grant is on the need to encourage children (K-12th grade) to increase literacy and cultural development, develop leadership skills, and avoid gang involvement and gain the education they need to break the cycle of poverty and violence in this local area. Last year we received and successfully executed a District matching grant to support this initiative.
There are three elements to this project:
(1) Literacy -Elementary School age Reading and Attendance Incentives
(2) Mentorship Program for Middle School age
(3) Leadership Development and training for High School age
Elementary School Age Reading and Attendance Incentives
Laurel Elementary School and Mission Elementary School, Title 1 (low income) schools, both serve children in the Crown Heights area. Attendance at Laurel is below the 95% goal of the school district, and 73 % of students scored below proficient on the 2012-2013 English Language Arts STAR testing while recent reading/skill benchmarks show that for most grade levels more than half of their students are below grade level. As part of a well balanced literacy program, Laurel administrators and teachers plan to incentivize reading and improved reading by celebrating and rewarding students throughout the year. Laurel will use Reading counts, RAZ kids, MAP assessments, and Kinder sight word to monitor and track progress throughout the year. Students will receive monthly reading certificates in their classes and top readers and students with improved reading will receive a Laurel Lion T-shirt at the end of each trimester. With this grant Oceanside Rotary Club again will fund the purchase of those school T-shirts to be awarded as reading and attendance incentives; as appropriate club members will participate in those award ceremonies, and selected students will visit the club to show off their T-shirts.
Mission Elementary School also serves Crown Heights students. Last year, with a District matching Grant of $1500, Oceanside Rotary Club donated books to the school library fulfilling all of the library's needs for the year. We intend to fund a similar amount for library books this year.
Budget: $1000 for Laurel School Lion T-shirts (200 shirts @~$5 each) and library books
Timeline: Funding will be provided to Laurel Elementary in time for the first trimester presentations
Budget: $1500 for Mission Elementary Library Books
Timeline: Funding will be provided to Mission Elementary near the beginning of the school year
Mentorship Program:
Oceanside Rotary Club's newest concept for community enrichment was begun last year under our District matching grant: it is engaging Club members, many of whom benefited from mentors when growing up in this and other communities, and we saw that it was successful last year in raising middle-schoolers' awareness of life options that were not apparent to them previously, and Lincoln Middle School administrators have reported that some of the students attending our events last year have shown a marked improvement in their grades and their attitudes toward school. The vision of the program is for Oceanside Rotary Club members and family members to take young people from the Crown Heights neighborhood who attend Lincoln Middle School to various chosen venues, which will include college campus tours, thus providing them with exposure to educational, sporting and cultural events that they may not otherwise be able to experience. Venues being considered include:
Padres Baseball Game
Chargers Football Game
San Diego State Soccer Game
USD Basketball Game
San Diego Zoo/Balboa Park, Museums and Concerts
MiraCosta Theatre Productions
Midway Museum (includes train trip)
Broadway San Diego Theater Productions
San Diego Science Center
Scripps Institution of Oceanography & Birch Aquarium
At each venue, at least two members of Oceanside Rotary will accompany 4 - 6 youngsters; all participating adults will be trained and vetted with the District 5340 Youth Volunteer Affidavit. Oceanside Rotary will obtain entrance tickets to each venue and expend funds for food etc. as appropriate. In these casual settings, each Rotarian will make an effort to befriend and engage the youngsters, giving them a positive role model and someone to talk to and share ideas and feelings. At some point after each event the Rotarian and some of the young guests will be responsible for presenting a program at Oceanside Rotary explaining what took place and how the event affected them. Transportation will be provided by the Rotarians who will use private vehicles to the site of the event and who will be reimbursed for gas and other expenses if desired. Liability insurance for the events will be provided by Rotary International's blanket coverage. The youngsters, who will all come from the Crown Heights neighborhood, will be chosen by staff and teachers from Lincoln Middle School. Oceanside Rotary will also involve North County Life Line, a local non-profit organization which operates programs and services in the Crown Heights neighborhood. There will be some costs involved that this grant would help reimburse which include transportation, food, programs and incidentals that will make the experience vivid for the students. We envision all the tickets being donated by the above Organizations, but the individual Rotarians may request reimbursement of some of their costs.
Budget: $1000 for miscellaneous expenses
Timeline: Start time is dependent upon Oceanside School District, however once begun events are envisioned to be approximately monthly thru the end of the school year.
Leadership Development and Training for Oceanside High School Students
Oceanside Rotary Club supports the Oceanside High School Interact Club with mentorship activities, providing leadership training to high school students. This grant would allow us to expand that support to provide for professional leadership training on-campus to Interact club members. By bringing in a professional trainer we can provide an inspiring and educational activity for OHS students, and generate more interest in membership of the Interact club.
Budget: $500 for professional trainer
Timeline: Start time will be dependent on the availability of the trainer and on scheduling with the Interact club's other activities.
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET: $4000
$2000 District matching grant, $2000 club contribution
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